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Teacher jailed two years for relationship with teen student

Calgary Herald/File
Jennifer Mason

A former Calgary Catholic school teacher has been sentenced to two years in federal prison and must be registered as a sex offender for 20 years after she pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation for an illicit sexual affair with a teenage male student last year.

The boy, who was 14 when the relationship began and 16 when it was discovered and reported to police, declined to be a part of the process and said he was not victimized, Faulkner told court.

“He said if Mason was sentenced to jail, he’d go to jail for her,” said Faulkner.

Nevertheless, Dunnigan called the relationship between the teacher and boy “unacceptable, illegal and damaging” and the victim will come to realize that some day.

“This is not a victimless crime. There are victims: family, the community, friends, yourself, many victims,” Dunnigan said.

“It comes out here when there is a breach of trust and grooming, insinuation into the life of the student and family. That damage may not have come out yet, but it will. It may be a slow, ticking bomb, but it ticks.”

Lord said the offence has been devastating on his client, as she has lost her marriage, her home, all of her girlfriends, her job and her career as a result of the charges and pre-trial publicity.

“She has been publicly shamed to a high degree,” Lord said. “There is no minimization of it.”

Faulkner earlier said the teacher and her then former student were caught having sex in her parked car by residents of the northwest Dalhousie neighbourhood last Nov. 23, and that police pursued it when they saw the extensive age difference.

The prosecutor noted there was no evidence they had sex prior to the boy’s 16th birthday the previous summer, thus the acceptance of a plea to exploitation and withdrawing other charges of sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual counselling of a minor.

She said, however, that during the 2011-12 school year when the boy was in junior high at Our Lady of Assumption, he and Mason communicated regularly by text messages, Skype, e-mail, Facebook and other social media.

Faulkner noted that they would meet and have sex in her car, in hotels and at her home numerous times.

She also said that when she was on her honeymoon in Europe in the summer of 2012, she e-mailed the boy numerous times. After she returned, they met and kissed at a public park. A year later, Faulkner said, Mason sent him a happy birthday greeting that said: “I’m yours forever, you own my heart, you rule my world, you are my king, my best friend, my lover, forever. I love you more than you will understand.”

Mason spent two months in custody prior to sentencing, but that time was applied towards a breach of her bail conditions for allegedly contacting the victim in May.

Police previously said the passerby’s call to police about “inappropriate interaction” between two occupants of the parked vehicle uncovered the months-long illicit relationship between the teacher and teenage boy who previously attended classes at her school.

The boy, now 16, attends high school elsewhere.

Although the general age of consent for sexual activity is 16, the Criminal Code forbids sexual activity between minors under 18 and adults who hold a position of trust over them, such as teachers and coaches.

Mason was re-assigned to duties outside the school when police informed school officials of the allegations. The Calgary Catholic School District launched an internal investigation and the board later suspended her following its parallel investigation into the allegations.

The School Act requires school boards to continue paying teachers under suspension.